A windy day at Johanna Beach down near the Otway Ranges of Western Victoria. This was Charlie’s first big holiday and we were away for a week across Christmas and New Year 2007 staying on a bush property kilometres from the nearest cafe and many more to the closest town. The bottom image has appeared is an earlier post but the first one showing Jill and Charlie had not and I thought the pictures together were a perfect fit for RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge 141 Breeze & Blow. To debunk the theory that haiku is a lot of Hot Air read many other breezy poems at https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-141-breezeblow/

We spent last weekend at Castlemaine and became caught up in the Castlemaine Arts festival. See http://castlemainefestival.com.au/ On Saturday we were chasing an open artists workshop trail on a back road near Walmer/Muckleford when we came upon this train.

The BUNYIP is a mythical Australian Aboriginal creature, large , black, living in swamps and marshes and active after dark. Bunyip stories made sure children did not stray at night. To support this story an active night bird called the Australasian Bittern lives in swamps and makes incredibly spine chilling boom boom noises. I could not resist the opportunity for metaphor.

There is a historical train society that maintains the rail link between Castlemaine and Maldon and regularly runs tourist trips between the 2 towns and were certainly in action with the festival. The train and rolling stock predates the mid C20th . At the time I felt haiku coming on, then I discovered the one a week Photo Challenge word challenge this week is HISTORICAL . This is my challenge. For this years challenge planned by Cathy and Sandra visit Cathy’s blog at https://nanacathydotcom.wordpress.com/one-a-week-photo-challenge-2017/

There is a lot to read into the imagination of this butterfly. Was it attracted by the colour of Jill’s runner? Was it fooled by the pattern that looked like plant structure? Was there some spilt honey on the shoe? Whatever the reason this persistent little insect would not depart. Jill took her shoe off and held it up for me to get a close up shot and still it stayed. Eventually it walked onto her hand and stayed there for a while before finally flying away hopefully discovering real food somewhere.

The first Haibun is the Port fairy Lighthouse, unfortunately locked up to prevent the latest dance craze.

Secondly another beautiful sunset over Port Phillip Bay from Ricketts Point with a lone seagull adding its voice to natures art.

Third is the Maori art work and totem at the entrance to the Polynesian Spa in Rotorua New Zealand. We were a bit disappointed by the commercialisation and overcrowding inside the spa. We were in and out as quickly as if visiting a casino and opted for a wander along the foreshore of Lake Rotorua.

Of all our Afghans only Kara defied the ban on furniture. She happily acquired sofa’s and beds but reluctantly returned to her own sofa futon if pushed. The older she became the more liberties she took. However she started young as seen below at 3 months of age.

Of the others Kelly would always be on the bed in the morning if the temperature dropped below about 8 oC overnight although we never heard or felt her getting there. And Charlie would only get on the bed if there were thunderstorms or she was having a phantom pregnancy.

For a rare post I am prepared to break my rule of using only my images with my haiku. I have 2 Pinterest sites, one on photography tips and one on Afghan Hounds, where I share images of our Afghans , especially Charlie. Every few days I pin different , fascinating and unusual images of Afghan Hounds I come across. If you want to understand how addictive Afghan Hounds can become in your lives, (Charlie’s images may have convinced regular visitors already) pleas visit my pinterest site some time at https://au.pinterest.com/deekar0134/afghan-hounds-sharing/

This image appeared recently and not only did I pin it I also felt a haiku coming on. So here is the haiku and I have to include the image so hence the rule break. There are legends about the jumping ability of Afghan Hounds and breeders always mention the need for high fences. Our Suki could leap very high in pursuit of doves and others without going into detail would be prepared to remind possums to stay high in trees.

Thanks to Steve Blodgett who took this photo I can indeed share the fact that Afghan Hounds do indeed leap high

Our Prunus Cherry Plum tree suffers enough from the teeth of hungry Ringtail Possums. To counter this it tries to regenerate new leaves and sometimes new blossom. In desperation I feed the possums apples to steer them away from the leaves and flowers however more turn up for a feed. Tonight 3 were waiting for their apple however there is no guarantee they will not still take out a desert of leaves before returning to their home which is currently on the ground behind some bricks stacked against the back fence.